The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Verbena plant, botanically known as Verbena hybrida, and hereinafter referred to by the name ‘AKIV98-01’.
The new Verbena plant is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventor in Shiga, Japan. The objective of the breeding program is to create new freely flowering Verbena cultivars with large flowers and resistance to Powdery Mildew.
The new Verbena plant originated from a cross-pollination made by the Inventor on May 25, 2005 in Shiga, Japan of Verbena peruviana ‘Sunvivaro’, disclosed in U.S. Plant Pat. No. 13,724, as the female, or seed, parent with Verbena hybrida ‘USBENAL17’, disclosed in U.S. Plant Pat. No. 14,877, as the male, or pollen, parent. The new Verbena plant was discovered and selected by the Inventor as a single flowering plant within the progeny of the stated cross-pollination in a controlled environment in Shiga, Japan on Jun. 29, 2007.
Asexual reproduction of the new Verbena plant by terminal cuttings in a controlled environment in Shiga, Japan since June, 2007 has shown that the unique features of this new Verbena plant are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.